SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25
Cricket (Sky Sport 2, Sky 030, 1.31pm). After three Twenty20 matches, the Black Caps are into the one-day series with South Africa. Tonight’s match is from Westpac Stadium in Wellington; on Wednesday, the teams meet at McLean Park, Napier; and the final match is at Eden Park... [more]
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 18
Lonely Planet's Year of Adventures (BBC Knowledge, Sky 074, 8.30pm). A way of travelling the world without leaving home. Adventurer Ben Fogle sets off on a year of adventures, based on the Lonely Planet book of the same name: among the challenges are climbing the via ferrata mountain... [more]
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 12
Would I Lie to You? (TV3, 7.00pm). It seems that we’ve finally learnt the lesson that Britain has known forever – panel shows are entertaining and cheap. Stop reading now if the thought of Paul Henry back on television gives you nightmares: he’s the host. Meanwhile, team captains... [more]
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5
Stephen Fry's 100 Greatest Gadgets (TV1, 7.30pm). We could listen to Stephen Fry talk about anything so, as he’s a gadget expert, this looks promising. It is, however, mostly a clip show in which various UK celebs talk about the gadget they couldn’t live without. Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen and... [more]
SATURDAY JANUARY 28
Australian Open Tennis (Sky Sport 3, 9.00pm). At time of writing, the first round of the women’s singles competition has barely begun: who can say what this evening’s final will bring? Being a women’s final, fashion talk and conversations about whether grunting is ladylike, probably.
SUNDAY JANUARY 29
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SUNDAY JANUARY 22
Hell on Wheels (Soho, 8.30pm). Fans of Deadwood might have their interest piqued by this post-Civil War America building-a-railroad drama, but keep your hopes realistic. Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (a well-cast Anson Mount) is out to avenge his wife’s death at the hands of Union soldiers, helping to... [more]
SUNDAY JANUARY 15
Ocean Giants (TV1, 7.30pm). It's quite the week for aquatic thrills (see Frozen Planet, Tuesday): Ocean Giants follows dolphins and whales across the oceans. In the first episode, cameramen Doug Allen and Didier Noirot are chasing the largest creatures ever known to have existed, blue whales. Bonus: Stephen... [more]
SATURDAY JANUARY 7
Fresh (TV2, 10.00am). A second season of the show about Pasifika youth culture starts with Shortland Street’s Teuila Blakely hosting a special from Samoa. Each week, the show will be hosted by a different figure from the Pasifika community, including Jerome Kaino, David Dallas and Nicole Whippy.
Michael Palin's... [more]
NEW YEAR'S EVE
Top 100 of 2011 (MTV Hits, Sky 060, 7.00pm). Whereas most of the free-to-air channels are seeing in the New Year through the magic of movie repeats, Sky channel MTV Hits is counting ’em down with the year’s hottest songs. What that means we don’t know, but we’re... [more]
CHRISTMAS EVE
The Royle Family: Joe's Crackers (UKTV, Sky 006, 7.30pm). Another Christmas of tiny expectations and undreamt dreams with Britain’s other Royle family. In this special, Dave and Denise worry that their gift of a fridge magnet won’t be good enough; Cheryl recounts a romantic encounter in the supermarket car... [more]
SATURDAY DECEMBER 17
Michael Bublé’s Christmas (TV3, Saturday, 7.30pm). Let’s get all the Christmas specials out of the way early, shall we? It’s always wise to be prepared in case of emergency and rubbish television, and this year’s line-ups are so dire we feel honour-bound to warn you. “Thank goodness the... [more]
SATURDAY DECEMBER 10
2011 Maori Sports Awards (Maori, 8.30pm). Sports awards ceremonies are usually tedious affairs, what with sportspeople not being known for their public-speaking prowess, but perhaps the Maori Sports Awards will be livened up with a few haka and waiata. Let’s hope so. Expect to hear the word “awesome”... [more]
SATURDAY DECEMBER 3
Hockey (Sky Sport 2, Sky 031, noon). First the Rugby World Cup and now this: the largest hockey event in New Zealand’s history, the 2011 Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy, was given to Auckland after some governance issue with the Indian Hockey Federation. Owen Glenn was instrumental in... [more]
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26
Election 2011 (TV1, TV3, Maori, TVNZ 7, from 7.00pm). Just when we were thinking three weeks was a long time in politics and that, after the euphoria of the Rugby World Cup, we’d have to put up with blathering politicians and their lies, damned lies and statistics, the... [more]
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19
Keeping Up with the Joneses (TV1, 7.00pm). Finally, the proper definition of reality TV: life on a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia, which might as well be Mars to us. A camera crew follows the Jones family – Milton, Cristina and three-year-old “Little Milton” –... [more]
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 12
Ice Road Truckers (TV3, 7.30pm). You need to be a special kind of risk-taker to drive 18-wheelers on the most treacherous roads on Earth, but not all the truckers are manly men doing manly work: Lisa Kelly (pictured) is a 28-year-old former bus driver and freestyle motocross champion... [more]
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5
The Russians Are Coming (Maori, 8.30pm). Maori Television continues its Pakipumeka Aotearoa season with The Russians Are Coming, a doco about the little-known meeting between Maori and Russian voyagers in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1820. Two Russian exploration expeditions were sent out in 1819 as part of Tsar Alexander... [more]
SATURDAY OCTOBER 29
Allan Baldwin: In Frame (Maori, 8.30pm). There is an eerie moment in this documentary when a photograph is rendered into 3D, and the flame of a match dances above the bowl of a pipe. The effect almost brings to life kuia Ngaakahikatea, her face with its deep-seated moko captured... [more]
SATURDAY OCTOBER 22
The Palladians (History Channel, Sky 073, 5.30pm). A documentary into Italy’s Veneto region to meet people who live in houses designed by Andrea Palladio. Considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture, Palladio designed a cluster of villas (by which is meant massive country houses)... [more]
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
It’s a Woman’s World (Travel Channel, Sky 076, 8.30pm). New Zealander Camilla Andersen could be in our Flying the Flag series – except the flags would be scattered far and wide all around the globe. She was half of the duo who made the terrific low-budget series Julian... [more]
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25
Cricket (Sky Sport 2, Sky 030, 1.31pm). After three Twenty20 matches, the Black Caps are into the one-day series with South Africa. Tonight’s match is from Westpac... [more]